Best of the West on the block

Coeur d'Alene Art Auction, the Idaho-based auction house specializing in 19th and 20th century Western and sporting paintings, holds its popular specialized sale on July 24th at The Silver Legacy Resort in Reno, Nevada. This annual auction has reeled in a total of $200,000,000 over the last ten years.

The 308-lot catalog reads like a who's who in Western art, featuring prime examples by Eanger Irving Couse (1866-1936), E. Martin Hennings (1886-1956), Edgar Payne (1882-1947), among others.

There are very early paintings such as Enoch Wood Perry's (1831-1915) Vernal Falls, Yosemite Valley of 1863 (est. $60,000-90,000) as well as noteworthy works by contemporary artists such as Luke Frazier, Bill Anton, and Roy Andersen.

Depictions of Native Americans include fine examples by Joseph H. Sharp, Charles M. Russell, Edgar S. Paxson, Grace Carpenter Hudson, Alice Coutts, Edward S. Curtis, Frederick A. Verner, and several by Couse, including the top lot, his "Kachina Painter" (1917), estimated at $800,000-1,200,000.

Cowboys are represented in paintings, sketches, and bronzes by the likes of Frederic Remington, Olaf C. Seltzer, Nick Eggenhofer, and Edward Borein.

From mountain landscapes to sporting scenes and wildlife studies, a wide array of subject matter is offered by Albert Bierstadt, Frank Benson, Aiden Lassell Ripley, Charles Partridge Adams, Gunnar Widforss, Birgir Sandzen, Philip R. Goodwin, and many more.

There are a few surprises in this Western-themed sale, too, such as a sedate tea party scene (1885) by George Hitchcock (1850-1913), estimated at $15,000-$25,000.